Rosa Luxemburg, the leader of a revolutionary faction of the German socialist party during World War I, is born on this day in 1871, in Zamos, Poland, an area that at the time was under Russian control.

The youngest of five children in a lower-middle-class Jewish family, Luxemburg became interested in radical politics at a young age. In 1889, she left Poland and the repressive czarist regime of Alexander III (the predecessor to Czar Nicholas II) and went to Zurich, Switzerland, where she studied natural science and political economy. In 1898, Luxemburg married a German worker, Gustav Lubeck, thus attaining German citizenship. She settled in Berlin, where she affiliated herself with the German Social Democratic Party (known as the SPD), then the most prominent organization of international socialism in the world.

In the years leading up to World War I, Luxemburg became increasingly radical in her ideology, advocating a general strike as the catalyst that would radicalize the workers and bring about an international socialist revolution. She and her fellow leftists in the SPD strongly opposed German participation in the war, seeing it as an imperialist conflict that would not benefit the general population. This alienated them from the party’s leadership, which supported the war effort in the hopes that reform would follow a German victory.

In December 1914, Luxemburg and the German socialist Karl Liebknecht formed a revolutionary faction of the SPD called the Spartacist League. As its vociferous spokesperson, Luxemburg published a treatise in 1916, The Crisis in German Social Democracy, in which she claimed that social democracy had failed the German working class by its endorsement of an imperialist, capitalist war effort. The only solution to this crisis, Luxemburg believed, was international class revolution.

After a Spartacist demonstration in May 1916 against the war, Luxemburg was again imprisoned; she remained in jail for the remainder of World War I. Following her release in November 1918—on the orders of the German chancellor, Max von Baden, to release all political prisoners—Luxemburg helped begin the transformation of the Spartacists into the new Communist Party of Germany (KPD).

The following January, the Spartacists gathered in Berlin to launch a rebellion against the coalition government of von Baden and Friedrich Ebert, the leader of the SPD. Luxemburg joined them reluctantly, urging her followers not to attempt a coup before they mustered sufficient popular support. She was unable to restrain them, however, and the rebels launched their attacks on January 10. Ebert subsequently called in the German army to subdue the rebellion. In the conflict that ensued, both Luxemburg and Liebknecht were captured and killed. Her body, thrown into a canal, was not retrieved until five months later.

In death, Luxemburg became a martyr to the cause of international socialist revolution. As her fellow Spartacist Clara Zetkin wrote of her: “In Rosa Luxemburg the socialist idea was a dominating and powerful passion of both mind and heart….She sacrificed herself to the cause, not only in her death, but daily and hourly in the work and the struggle of many years. She was the sword, the flame of revolution.”
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Frank Seger’s Diary for March, 1915Friday, March 5, 1915 12 Above. Cloudy acks like rain. I took the milk. Came back went down on road chopped ice & put on Salt. Heman helped Reubin Wolf saw down trees. Lewis drew to load of wood then cleaned out the Barn before noon. Took munare up to Comestocks after noon. Children went to ________.

Lucy Seger’s Diary for March, 1915March 5, 1915 Clear and mild all day. I made a cake in the morning. In the afternoon I swept and dusted upstairs. Mother up to Mrs. Smith’s in afternoon. In evening I went down to Darlings to a surprise party. Heman went down to train to meet Laura and one of her school chums. There wasn’t very many there; myself, brothers and Clarence J. was all. I talked with Sarah on the telephone.

Production number: LZ33
Tactical number: L8
First flight: December 17, 1914
Remarks: Used for reconnaissance missions along the western front. Flight Magazine 1916 ( http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1916/1916%20-%200744.html ) lists it as "Damaged by British aviator", it wrecked south of Ostend at Tirlemont on 4 March 1915 [? - PT] with the crew of 21 killed.

This short extract covers 1st January to 3rd June 1916 covering operations at Givenchy, Calonne and Vimy Ridge. This diary is an excellent illustration of the continual fighting and loss of experienced soldiers, even during relatively quiet times, before the Somme began

5th March 1916
In billets. Took over front-line from South Staffs. Some shelling. The Brigade area has been moved south about 500 yards. A company being on the right, D in centre, C in left and B in support, with the 24th Royal Fusiliers on our right and the 17th Middlesex on our left. During our four days in billets the Battalion was employed at work on the village line by day, and by night on Brigade fatigues, under supervision of the RE.

This is a transcribed extract from the battalion war diary which is held at the National Archives, piece WO95/2430.

Deduced casualties, determined from other sources:
11529 Pte Philip Duncan, a native of Liverpool who was born on the Isle of Man, killed in action on 5 March 1916 in the Calonne trenches. He is buried in Loos British Cemetery.

Sir ERNEST LAMB asked the Minister of Munitions, as representing the Central Control Board (Liquor Traffic), the figures of convictions for drunkenness, relating to female offenders only, for the years 1913, 1914, 1915, and 1916?

The SECRETARY of STATE for the HOME DEPARTMENT (Sir George Cave) The numbers of convictions of women for drunkenness in England and Wales in the years specified were 35,765, 37,311, 33,211, and 21,244. The last figure is subject to correction.

March on Baghdad - There were no setbacks for the British on this campaign. General Maude proceeded cautiously, advancing on both sides of the Tigris River. He earned his nickname Systematic Joe. The Ottoman forces contested a fortified place called the Khadairi Bend which the British captured after two weeks of siege work (6 January to 19 January 1917). The British then had to force the Turks out of a strong defensive line along the Hai River. This took them two more weeks (from 25 January till 4 February). Another Ottoman position, called Dahra Bend, was taken on 16 February. Finally, the British re-captured Kut on 24 February 1917 in the Second Battle of Kut. The local Ottoman commander, Karabekir Bey, did not let his army become trapped in Kut like General Townshend had been in the First Battle of Kut.

Baghdad - The march on Baghdad resumed on 5 March 1917. Three days later, Maude's corps reached the Diyala River on the outskirts of the city.

General CROFT asked the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs
(1) whether his attention has been called to the fact that Mr. Kroeller is the principal adviser of the Dutch Ministry of Trade and Agriculture on the distribution of foodstuffs in Holland; whether he is Largely responsible for the Dutch agricultural produce which goes to Germany; is he further aware that Mr. Kroeller has made a very large fortune out of the War, and it has repeatedly been stated in various Dutch newspapers that he is openly hostile to the British Empire; whether representations will be made to the Dutch Government with reference to this matter;
(2) whether his attention has been called to the fact that when an arrangement was made between the British and Dutch Governments that potatoes should be exported from Holland in equal quantities to England and Germany, when the time arrived Mr. Kroeller ruled that this could not be done, that no potatoes could be sent to England but everything to Germany as they must have coal; and whether a request will be made to the Dutch Government to remove Mr. Kroeller from his present position as adviser to the Dutch Government?

Lord R. CECIL I understand that Mr. Kroeller holds the position to which reference is made, and I presume accordingly 1807 that he is consulted in all matters concerning the export of Dutch produce. With regard to the export of potatoes, the quantity which Holland sent to the United Kingdom last year was, I understand, greater than that sent to Germany. On the other points raised by my hon. and gallant Friend I must point out to him that it is, generally speaking, undesirable to make representations to a foreign Government on such matters.

General CROFT Is Mr. Kroeller a member of the firm of Mullers, and during the first two years of the War was he in this country and was he received in various Government Departments with confidence?

Lord R. CECIL I cannot speak as to the last part of the hon. and gallant Gentleman's question. I do not know. I cannot speak as to what happened during the first two years of the War without inquiry. As to the other part of the question, he is certainly a partner of Messrs. Mullers and Company, and I am not here to defend Mr. Kroeller.

General CROFT asked the Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he is aware that Mr. Kroller's steamers of the Batavier Line have for a considerable time been prevented from sailing to England and continue to lie alongside the quay at Rotterdam; and whether any action is to be taken in the matter?

Lord R. CECIL Some ships of the line referred to are laid up—presumably owing to the fear of war risks. The whole question of Dutch shipping is now under consideration.

(NOTE FROM TROTSKY) COMMISSAR FOR WAR, TO COLONEL ROBINS FOR TRANSMISSION TO THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT CONCERNING THE ATTITUDE OF THE ALLIES IF THE SOVIET CONGRESS SHOULD REFUSE TO RATIFY THE BREST-LITOVSK TREATY

5 March 1918
Russian-American Relations

In case (a) the all-Russian congress of the Soviets will refuse to ratify the peace treaty with Germany, or (b) if the German government, breaking the peace treaty, will renew the offensive in order to continue its robbers' raid, or (c) if the Soviet government will be forced by the actions of Germany to renounce the peace treaty-before or after its ratification-and to renew hostilities

In all these cases, it is very important for the military and political plans of the Soviet power for replies to be given to the following questions:

1 . Can the Soviet government rely on the support of the United States of North America, Great Britain, and France in its struggle against Germany?

2. What kind of support could be furnished in the nearest future, and on what conditions-military equipment, transportation supplies, living necessities?

3. What kind of support would be furnished particularly and especially by the United States?

Should Japan-in consequence of an open or tacit understanding with Germany or without such an understanding-attempt to seize Vladivostok and the Eastern-Siberian Railway, which would threaten to cut off Russia from the Pacific Ocean and would greatly impede the concentration of Soviet troops toward the East about the Urals-in such case what steps would be taken by the other allies, particularly and especially by the United States, to prevent a Japanese landing on our Far East and to insure uninterrupted communications with Russia through the Siberian route?

In the opinion of the Government of the United States, to what extent-under the above-mentioned circumstances-would aid be assured from Great Britain through Murmansk and Archangel? What steps could the Government of Great Britain undertake in order to assure this aid and thereby to undermine the foundation of the rumors of the hostile plans against Russia on the part of Great Britain in the nearest future?

All these questions are conditioned with the self-understood assumption that the internal and foreign policies of the Soviet government will continue to be directed in accord with the principles of international socialism and that the Soviet government retains its complete independence of all non-socialist governments.

WOUNDED:
DRUMMOND -Sergt. D, son of Mrs A Drummond, of bSebastopol, has been wounded for the second time. Sgt. Drummond is in the 14th Battalion, and won the Military Medal.

GASSED.
THOMPSON, Sapper E. of Ballarat East, is suffering from the effect, of gas. Word received by his wife.

RETURNING
Crouch.—Mr and Mrs Percival Crouch of Shepparton (late of Duncaster ), have been notified that their only son Corporal T. Crouch, is on his way home. He has been twice wounded in France, and has gained the Military Medal and bar

BRAVE VICTORIAN AIRMAN
The late Lieut., DOUGLAS MORRISON, son of Mr G. C. Morrison, Public service commissioner, He lost his life after two months' service as an aviator in France, was one of the leading golf players in Victoria. One of his comrades in the flying Corps wrote regarding him:—"He was one of the gamest and best—always daring, always brave, and clever in attack. He put up a wonderful fight, but they got on each side and behind "

Origins of the Spanish Influenza pandemic (1918–1920) and its relation to the First World War

An article from that time (Vaughan, 1921) indicates that the epidemic began on 5th March 1918 among the Chinese workers contracted at the Fort Riley military base in Funston (Kansas). Patterson and Pyle (1991) also refer to this influenza outbreak which affected 1,100 soldiers. Since that publication, it is generally accepted that the Spanish Influenza pandemic began at that time. However, we believe that it is problematic to assign such a specific date to the beginnings of the pandemic, since its origins are likely to be much more complex and varied.

On the next day the People's Naval Division received news that they had been 'disbanded' after the government issued an official announcement of the fact. Disgruntled, a group of sailors approached the Berlin Police HQ to voice their protest. Jumpy from the previous day, one of the Freikorps soldiers shot and mortally wounded a sailor. Enraged and wanting revenge, the People's Naval Division threw their lot in with the revolutionaries. That night angry mobs, including sailors, surrounded the police station and were only kept at bay by sustained rifle fire.

One of the most famous names identified with El Paso Saddlery is Gen. George Patton. In 1916, then 2nd Lt. Patton ordered what would become one of the most famous sixguns in history. Who hasn't seen photos of the colorful general wearing his fully-engraved, ivory-stocked, 4 3/4" Colt Single Action Army .45 Colt? That sixgun became the symbol of his leadership and every soldier could tell by the ivory-gripped pistol that Patton was out front.

Patton purchased his beautifully ornate .45 Colt from the Shelton Payne Arms Co. of El Paso. The silver-plated sixgun, serial number 332088, was shipped on March 5, 1916. Four days later, Mexican revolutionaries crossed the border at Columbus, N.M. Patton had his sixgun when he joined the punitive expedition under Black Jack Pershing.

Photos exist of Patton wearing his Peacemaker in Mexico but it is difficult to determine what type of holster he was wearing. Not so during his World War II service as a great leader of men and tank commander extraordinaire. In 1935, while stationed in Hawaii, Patton ordered an ivory-stocked, blued 3 1/2" S&W .357 Mag. to supplement his Peacemaker .45.

Sometime in the late 1930s, Patton entered the S.D. Myers shop in El Paso to order leather for his soon-to-be-famous sixguns. For each, he ordered two holsters, one left- and one right-handed. Thus, he could wear either sixgun on either side. The outline of each sixgun is quite different and the holsters were formed to each. Photos show Patton wearing the Colt Single Action on the right side at times, and at others, the Smith took that position. Today, one set is in the museum in Fort Knox, Ky., while the other remains with the Patton family.

The local labor cataclysm known as the Everett Massacre may have been sudden and swift, but its legal and political aftermath certainly wasn’t. The drama that began on November 5, 1916, stretched out over six months and reached its crescendo with a nationally-noted legal trial which began in King County Superior Court in Seattle on the date in focus here.

The Everett Massacre occurred when some 300 members of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW, a.k.a. “The Wobblies”) boarded a pair of ships in Seattle and headed north toward Everett, where they planned a public demonstration that afternoon in support of striking shingle mill workers. When they arrived, they were met by a large group of some 200 hostile local police and citizen deputies. A spontaneous gunfire melée soon erupted, leaving seven dead and 50 wounded from among both Wobblies and deputies. The instigator of the first shot–whether Wobbly or deputy–was never identified.

The trial concerned the culpability of 74 Wobblies who had been arrested upon their return to Seattle from the scene of the massacre, incarcerated in the Snohomish County Jail in Everett, and charged with the murder of Jefferson Beard and C. O. Curtis, two citizen deputies who had been killed in the melée. The first of the Wobblies to be tried was Thomas Tracy, a prominent IWW leader at the time.

Anna Louise Strong, already known locally as a newspaper reporter with progressive sympathies, covered the trial for the New York Evening Post. Her experience hearing the story of the massacre during the trial’s course would be a crucial catalyst in her transformation from a “respectable” member of Seattle society into a lifelong rabble-rouser. Strong would write later, in her 1935 autobiography I Change Worlds:

“The news [concerning the events that instigated the massacre] was that at every stage the Everett police and private lumber guards took the initiative in beating and shooting workers for speaking in their streets. The lumber guards on the dock had begun the shooting and continued firing as the Verona [one of the two IWW-charted ships] pulled away; yet none of them were arrested. The men on trial for murder were not individually shown to have even possessed a gun; it was enough that someone on their ship, a comrade or an agent provocateur, had fired.”

Strong’s name and political leanings came up in an intriguing way during the jury selection proceedings. Prosecuting Attorney Lloyd Black asked one prospective juror whether they knew Strong personally, much to Strong’s surprise. After that day’s adjournment, Strong asked Black why the question was asked. Black replied, “I heard Mr. Cooley ask it, so I did,” referring to the associate council for the case.

When Cooley was asked about the question, he replied, “Oh, I read in a newspaper that Miss Strong has written an article saying there was no use having a trial.”

The IWW benefited greatly from a national defense fund campaign they launched soon after the arrest of the 74 Wobblies. Using the funds raised, they retained Los Angeles attorney Fred H. Moore and former Seattle deputy prosecutor George F. Vanderveer, both of whom proved highly effective in the defense. In one intriguing twist at one point in the trial, forensic evidence indicated that Curtis was most likely killed by one of his fellow deputies, so that charge was quietly dropped. Another contributing factor explaining the length and complexity of the trial was the IWW’s perception of it as a microcosm of the class struggle they were then passionately committed to winning.

Tracy was finally acquitted on May 5, 1917. Shortly thereafter, all charges were dropped against the remaining 73 defendants and they were released from jail. There was no appeal, nor were charges ever made against any of the citizen deputies who may have murdered the five Wobblies who also died in the massacre.

2017 is a momentous year for IWM, as we mark our centenary. IWM was founded on 5 March 1917, when the War Cabinet approved a proposal by Sir Alfred Mond MP for the creation of a national war museum to record the events still taking place during the First World War.

The intention was to collect and display material as a record of everyone’s experiences during that war – civilian and military – and to commemorate the sacrifices of all sections of society. One hundred years later, we continue to collect and tell the stories of those affected by conflict throughout the twentieth and twenty first century.

PRELIMINARY TREATY OF PEACE. SIGNED AT THE CASTLE OF BUFTEA, NEAR BUCHAREST, 7 P.M., 5 MARCH, 1918.

[The German text as published in the Frankfurter Zeitung, 7 March, 1918, first morning edition.1

[Translation]

Animated by the common desire to terminate the state of war between Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and Turkey on fhe one hand, and Roumania on the other hand, and to reestablish peace, the undersigned, namely,

the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, the Imperial Actual Privy Councillor. Herr Richard von Kühlmann as Plenipotentiary of Germany,

the Minister of the Imperial and Royal House and for Foreign Affairs of His Imperial and Royal Apostolic Majesty , Privy Councillor Odakar Count Czernin von und zu Chudenitz as Plenipotentiary of Austria Hungary,

the Vice President of the Sobranje, Dr. Momtschiloff as Plenipotentiary of Bulgaria,

His Highness the Grand Vizier Talaat Pascha as Plenipotentiary of Turkey,

on the one hand, and

M. P. C Argetoianu as Plenipotentiary of Roumania

on the other hand,

after examination of their full powers, have agreed to the end that, since the truce treaty signed at Focsani on 9 December, 1917, has been denounced on 2 March, 1918, and expired on 5 March, 1918, at 12 o'clock noon. An armistice of fourteen days with the privilege of denouncing it within a period of three days, shall begin on 5 March, 1918, midnight.

Between the undersigned there exists a complete agreement to the end that within this period of time the final peace is to he concluded on the basis of the following agreement:

Roumania relinquishes to the Allied Powers the Dobrudja as far as the Danube.
The Powers of the Quadruple Alliance will take care to maintain the commercial route for Roumania by way of Constanza to the Black Sea.
The frontier corrections demanded by Austria-Hungary along the Austro-Hungarian-Roumanian boundary are in principle accepted by Roumania
Likewise measures of an economic nature and adequate to the situation are, in principle, accepted
The Roumanian Government obligates itself to demobilize forthwith at least eight divisions of the Roumanian army. The operation of the demobilization will be carried out in common by the supreme command of the Mackensen army group and by the supreme command of the Roumanian army. As soon as peace is reestablished between Russia and Roumania, the remaining parts of the Roumanian army are also to be demobilized, in so far as they are not needed for security service along the Russo-Roumanian frontier.
The Roumanian troops must immediately evacuate the territory of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy occupied by them.
The Roumanian Government obligates itself to aid as far lies in its power in transporting troops of the allied Powers through Moldavia and Bessarabia to Odessa.
Roumania obligates herself to dismiss at once officers of the Powers at war with the Quadruple Alliance and still in Roumanian service. Safe conduct is insured to these officers on the part of the Powers of the Quadruple Alliance.
This treaty goes immediately into force.
In witness thereof the Plenipotentiaries have signed this treaty and affixed their seals to it.

Sent by a nurse, Margaret Ripley, to her mother back in England. As far as I can tell (corrections and additions welcome) this reads: "An awful wet day, bombarding again in distance. Had Easter cards from Kenley & had to pay 2 cent on each! We are writing to matron about [W. O ???]. I still hanker after Serbia. Trying to make people here understand we are not satisfied about work. One doctor [talks?] [?] beautifully and has had [?] nurses but I am afraid conditions can not be altered. I tried my hand on him this afternoon. Love Mar"

Judge criticises the men of Tullamore for failure to help the war effort

5 March 1915 - The men of Tullamore, and of King’s County in general, have been condemned for their poor response to the call to join the British Army.

At the opening of the Assizes for King’s County this week, Lord Justice Moriarty used his address to say that the vital question at the moment was army recruitment. He stated that, with respect to King’s County, the numbers heading to war were not what they should be: ‘I think it might be much better. There have joined 367 reservists and 321 new recruits. That is a small number of new recruits, having regard to the population of the county.’

Omschrijving - Students from Serbia preparing for performing a national dance. At the begining of the First World War Ljubica, her older sister and two brothers flee from Serbia towards Greece. The French army takes them to Corsica and later to Nice and Beaulieu-sur-Mer, France. At Beaulieu-sur-Mer Ljubica attends a school for teachers where she meets Blagoje Ristić, her future husband who worked as a teacher in Marseille during the First World War. At the end of the war they moved to The Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (1919-1929). Ljubica and Blagoje worked as teachers in villages and towns in central Serbia. In the current year 2016, they have the following descendants three children, seven grandchildren, eleven great-grandchildren and five great-great-grandchildren.

Sunday, 5 March, 1916
Breakfast at 9.30 Mass 10.30 & then
walked out to the Convent about 1 1/2
miles. We rang & rang at the Hall
door but no answer so ventured round
to the back, arrived at the kitchen
door & came in through that.
All the nuns were at Devotions & did
not hear our ring. We had a very
pleasant day with Aunt Eileen &
saw all over the place. There are
180 small boys who’s [sic: whose] ages vary from
3 to 10, they are not allowed to keep
them after 10, they are then sent on to
Artane Carriglea & kindred schools.
The poor kiddies look very cold
there was a perishing wind & no
shelter as the place is very high up.
The Rev. Mother was most hospitable &
gave us an excellent lunch & tea.
We walked back in the evening
& spent a quiet evening in Major
Traills company. The civilian had
disappeared.

I am suffering much in every way, most of all, perhaps, from sheer fatigue. As regards food and lodging I am not badly off, but the discomforts of the life would be long to tell. However, like St. Paul I can say that I superabound with joy in all my tribulations; for I know that they come from God’s hand and that they are working out some plan of His in my soul. What a joy to be able to offer oneself entirely, even life itself, each morning at Mass, and to think that perhaps before evening He may have accepted the offering!